110 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



IVIarch 



be gratifi'^d ? In connection with the wood- 

 pile, March is the proper time to split the rails 

 and posts that may be wanted, and to provide 

 a good supply of stakes to repair fences and 

 to be used in the garden. Bean poles and 

 brush for the early peas may as well be pro- 

 vided while you are about it. When you want 

 to use them your time will be more valuable. 



The tools should be carefully overhauled 

 and repaired. Have a supply of points for 

 the ploughs, put the harrows in good order, 

 and see that the hoes and forks and spades 

 are in good condition. If they are not, pro- 

 vide new ones of the best pattern you can 

 find. See that the chains and yokes and har- 

 nesses are in good order. The comfort of 

 the horses and oxen requires this. A little 

 forecast in these matters will save time and 

 trouble by-and-by. 



The cattle require at this season special 

 attention. They have been living for three 

 or four months chiefly on dry food, and 

 are beginning to suffer for the want of some- 

 thing more succulent. Their vitality is some- 

 what reduced. Breeding cows and sheep 

 especially should be carefully looked after. 

 Do not let them suffer from lice, but attend 

 to them at once, if they show indications of 

 being infested with them. If you have kept 

 your mangolds till now, begin to feed them 

 out to your cows and sheep. They are just 

 what they need at this season, and as they 

 keep better than turnips,, should be kept till 

 the last. They grow better by age — more of 

 the sap being converted into sugar as ihey 

 ripen, like a winter apple or pear. If you 

 have not roots to give your cattle a mess 

 daily, give them at least once a day a mess 

 of cut feed, that has been wet and mixed with 

 bran or meal and a little salt, and laid twelve 

 hours in the feed trough. We do not now 

 speak of cows that are fed for milk, but of 

 those that are being wintered for spring and 

 summer use. It is of the utmost importance 

 that they should come out vigorous and 

 healthy in the spring. Their profitableness 

 through the summer depends upon it. 



As breeding animals become heavy they 

 should be kept dry and warm and carefully 

 guarded against accidents and violence. 

 Many a fine cow is ruined at this season by a 

 strain or blow from the horn of another ani- 

 mal. Cows worth one or two hundred dol- 



lars are too valuable to be exposed to rough 

 or careless treatment. At the time of calving, 

 they require special attention. High blooded 

 and high kept cows are probably more sub- 

 ject to disease and difSculties in delivery 

 than hardier animals that are not as well kept. 

 Their udders should be watched for sometime 

 before calving, as they are liable to fill with 

 milk and inflame. If there is much milk in 

 them draw it off daily with gentleness. If 

 they are swelled and no milk can be drawn, 

 bathe them daily with warm water containing 

 a tablespoonful of saleratus to a gallon, di- 

 minish the feed, and give a handful of Epsom 

 salts daily until the heat and tenderness is 

 removed. An inflamed udder often causes 

 a premature birth, from the sympathy exist- 

 ing between that organ and the uterus. 

 Care bestowed upon animals at any season, 

 and especially at this season, is always well 

 repaid. 



Co-operative Farming. — Last season we 

 noticed the formation. of a "Planting Com- 

 pany" in the manufacturing town of Easton, 

 Mass., of which Mr. L. Smith was a director. 

 As an acknowledgment of our good wishes 

 for its success a certificate of a share in the 

 profits of a certain field was made out in the 

 name of one of the editors of the Farmer. 

 Some time since we received our dividend in 

 cash, but the note enclosing it was mislaid, 

 and its acknowledgment has been deferred in 

 hope it would turn up. As yet it has not done 

 so, and hence the above apology. We should be 

 glad to publish some account of the year's op- 

 eration if our planting friends will pardon our 

 carelessness and furnish a brief history of 

 their seed time and harvest. 



Coffee as a Deodorizer. — A late number 

 of the Journal of Chemisiry speaks in high 

 terms of the value of coffee as a deodorizer 

 for the neutralizing of foul odors that emanate 

 from organic bodie,; in a state of decay, as it 

 can be used to advantage where other disin- 

 fecting agents would be inadmissible. In 

 cases where rats die in the spaces between the 

 floors of dvvelhngs, the intolerable odor aris- 

 ing therefrom can be most effectually removed 

 by placing a pound or two of fresh burnt and 

 ground coffee between the floors. For the 

 puritieation of a sick room it is incomparably 

 superior to burning rags, as it has a beneficial 

 chemical action on the atmosphere of the 

 room, and gives besides, an agreeable prefume. 

 — Maine Farmer. 



